Life and investment lessons from my trip to Rwanda

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A trip to Rwanda This week I was in Rwanda on a 5 day tour Rwanda is a small and landlocked country in East Africa. The country has a total area of 26 338km2 I had heard and read a lot about Rwanda. Kigali, the capital of Rwanda is described as the most beautiful city in Africa, so I had to see for myself what the hype was about Rwanda is a beautiful country, no doubt. The mix of its beautiful hilly landscapes, lovely weather, heart wrenching history of the 1994 genocide and beautiful people left me with so many memorable memories I’ll be sharing in this post. We had a pretty busy itinerary. Infact it was so packed, we hardly had time as a group to venture out on our own but honestly the 16 other people I went on this trip with made it memorable.   Visit to Kigali Memorial We kicked off the tour with a visit to the Kigali genocide memorial. This was a very solemn moment for me as I had been reading the series on Rwanda on the Humans of New York Instagram page (@humansofny) The horror of the full extent of man’s inhumanity to a fellow man was unbelievable. I was deeply shaken to see how people were murdered with machetes and how babies were smashed to walls simply because they belonged to one tribe and not the other. I felt the agony while listening to the recorded interviews of survivors who shared the harrowing experience of seeing their loved ones murdered in cold blood and how they still live with the memories over 2 decades after. A friend of mine met a man who said he lived across the street of the man who killed his mother. He lives with that reality everyday yet chooses to live in peace because he understands that to seek vengeance would also make him a murderer. It was a powerful lesson on how ethnic slurs brewing below the surface of a nation can lead to a full-blown genocide with over 1 million people murdered in 30 days. Here’s the lesson- Don’t let ethnic slurs fester in anyway. As much as we may disagree with people of a different tribe, let us seek common ground and not let the seeds of disunity grow in our minds or even worse, plant those seeds in the minds of our children. It can lead to something we absolutely do not need in our nation today. As the 2019 elections draw near, please avoid ethnic slurs or arguments. Let us stick to the facts and not believe every broadcast message on WhatsApp. In Rwanda today, no one is allowed to claim a tribe. They are simply Rwandans. In the same vein, we are Nigerians.   Road trip to Lake Kivu in North Rwanda After the visit to the Kigali Memorial centre, we took a trip to Lake Kivu. Lake Kivu is in the Northern part of Rwanda which shares a land border with the Republic of Congo. We were informed we were going on a boat cruise on the lake, so I was really looking forward to it and even got dressed up for it. Only to get to the lake to see a canoe. Honestly, I was disappointed. The truth is I wouldn’t take a canoe ride in Lagos, Nigeria so why would I go all the way to another country to take a canoe ride on a lake? Nope, it wasn’t going to work. You guessed right, I didn’t go on the canoe ride..Lol This also made me realise I really need to begin to appreciate what we have in our country Nigeria. I have gone on multiple boat rides in Lagos and I absolutely enjoyed them We actually have a lot more to offer in terms of tourism in Nigeria than I saw in Rwanda, in terms of places to visit. Our key drawback as a nation is our poor infrastructure such as in terms of road network, electricity, transportation etc Yes, that sounds like a broken record but honestly, Nigeria needs to wake up. I actually got worked up when some people on the trip started to down-talk Nigeria. Oh yes, we have disappointing infrastructure, but we also have a lot to be proud of. I was excited to see Nigerian banks every where in Rwanda, GT bank, Access bank, Eco bank etc. They love our music as well. Simi and Johnny Drille are famous there. Before I go on a patriotic rant, I’ll share about the African Movie Academy Awards This was a great way to end the trip. We got the opportunity to dress up in dinner dresses, meet movie stars from Africa and experience an award show. This was my first award show ever, so it was quite an experience. Again, Nigerians stole the show winning awards and giving us a great music performance. Well, I’ll admit South African won big too..Lol I hardly ever get the time to attend these shows in Nigeria, so I immersed myself in the experience and was even captured on media dancing All in all, it was a good trip. I enjoyed touring Rwanda, but I came back with a resolve to contribute my part to developing this country I call home for now. I might not contribute in the traditional expected way but I do have a plan so watch out for my news in a couple of months. I also intend to travel to more African countries. We have so much history to explore. Africa is the next frontier for global development. This is a good time to explore and tap into investment opportunities in emerging countries in Africa as they navigate their way to development.